You are here

LONDON: This week the Under2 Coalition, of which The Climate Group is Secretariat, is moving into a crucial new phase focused on boosting climate transparency around the world, with the launch of a project which will help make Paris Agreements goals more achievable for regional governments.

The new Under2 Coalition project – which is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI), in partnership with Ricardo Energy and Environment, ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability, Greenhouse Gas Management Institute and CDP – aims to support regions to deliver on their Under2 commitment of limiting greenhouse gas emissions to 2 tonnes per capita or 80-95% below 1990 by 2050, by advancing their monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) capacity.

As well as encouraging knowledge-sharing across all levels of government, the project will help regional governments in Mexico (Baja California, Jalisco and Yucatán), India (Chhattisgarh and Telangana), Brazil (Pernambuco) and South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal) improve their climate transparency, which is critical to reaching the Paris Agreement goals.

Jean Charles Seghers, Head of Transparency, The Climate Group, says: “If we are to reach the full potential of global emissions reductions, projects like this are crucial. The principle of transparency is the backbone of the long-term Paris Agreement goal to keep global temperature increase to well-below 2°C – and it is equally critical at the state and regional level.

“This spearheading project represents the Under2 Coalition’s move from commitment to implementation, which is integral for states and regions to step up their ambition even further and help take the world well within striking distance of the Paris goal, and a safer future for all.”

Achieving the Paris goals relies heavily on countries’ climate data reporting. If countries are able to constantly scrutinize each other’s progress towards the commitments set out in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), they’re more likely to reach – and exceed – them.

But while NDCs submitted to date are currently insufficient to meet the goal, the emissions gap can be closed with additional climate action from states, regions, cities, businesses and investors. A report released last week by Data Driven Yale, NewClimate Institute, PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, found that global emissions in 2030 will be cut by a third (15-23 GtCO2e/year) if international cooperative initiatives which bring these actors together – such as the Under2 Coalition, RE100, C40 and the Global Covenant of Mayors – implement their commitments.

In the report, the Under2 Coalition is recognized as the initiative with the highest potential for emissions reduction. Through the Coalition, signatories have collectively committed to remove between 4.9-5.2 Gigatons of Co2 equivalent emissions per year by 2030, which is more than the current annual emissions of the European Union.

The Under2 Coalition is well-placed to drive the IKI climate transparency project, having worked for the past three years on MRV, focused in particular on linking sectors, exchanging knowledge between governments and collaboration at the global level. Once the new project has identified, captured and shared state and regional government learnings and best practices, it also has the potential to be replicated in other partner jurisdictions of the Under2 Coalition – and beyond.

The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) also supports this initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag.